The national government will be rolling out the second booster shot against COVID-19 to vulnerable sectors by next week according to the health department.

Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Myrna Cabotaje said that the roll out for the second booster shots will kick off on April 25.

“We’re going to start it by Monday because we need to resolve three points,” Cabotaje said in an interview on ABS-CBN News.

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“We are going to start it on Monday and we’re going to do it nationwide. No more NCR Phase 1. We would like to roll it out nationwide, immediately on Monday, after we have discussed the guidelines with our implementers,” she added.

Cabotaje said that they are still resolving on who should be part of the immunocompromised sector.

The health official also suggests using a different COVID-19 booster brand to maximize the protection.

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“A different brand will be more effective because it tries to give additional protection outside of the regular or the homologous primary booster,” Cabotaje said.

“They are thinking that it will have a better effect, it’s a complementary effect to the original vaccine doses that have been given,” she added.

Some 12.6 million Filipinos have received their third dose or booster shots according to the latest government data.